The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Penstemon plant botanically known as Penstemon hybrid and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Cherry Sparks’.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Venhuizen, the Netherlands during August 2012. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Penstemon cultivars having large flowers and a long flowering season.
The new Penstemon cultivar was the result of a self-pollination of ‘Andenken an Friedrich Hahn’ syn. ‘Garnet’, not patented, characterized by its garnet-red colored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, and vigorous, upright growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated self-pollination during July 2013 in a controlled environment in Venhuizen, the Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since July 2013 in Venhuizen, the Netherlands and Elburn, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.